As we head into the second quarter of 2015, Michael Yardney, from Metropole, shares a series of questions designed to help you evaluate and glean the lessons and meaning of the year so far to help you clarify your direction and your plan so that you make any needed course corrections.
 

Transcript:

Kevin:  We’re well and truly into 2015, now and we’re heading in to the second quarter of the year, well and truly. Is this a good time to assess your portfolio? What are some of the questions you need to ask yourself? That’s the question I put to our genius when it comes to this sort of thing, Michael Yardney from Metropole Property Strategists.
Hi, Michael.
Michael:  Hello, Kevin.
Kevin:  Have you been called a genius recently?
Michael:  Actually, it’s a long time. I think my mother is probably the only other one who’s ever called me a genius.
Kevin:  Oh, well. We think you are. We love having you in the show. Michael, what are the key questions you find we should be asking ourselves now to evaluate what we’re doing?
Michael:  I think it’s a good time – you’re right. I think one of the questions you should ask yourself is “What is it that I set out to do and accomplish in 2015?” Now be honest with yourself and where do you stand on those? How’s it going, Kevin?
Kevin:  Is it best when all these are written down, Michael, so you can assess them better?
Michael:  It makes much more sense to have set some written goals, Kevin – you’re right.
Kevin:  It’s really about the reasons behind it all, isn’t it?
Michael:  That’s right. The same question I ask myself is “What are the deeper reasons why I set out to accomplish these goals, and are they still important to me – if that’s the case, the reasons still matter the same – or if not, why not?” Then what I’d be saying is do you want to adjust the goals for the rest of the year? Are they still appropriate for you? Are they still meaningful?
Another question I ask myself is what do you like best about what’s going on so far in the first three or four months of the year? What are you proudest of? What are your victories? What are you grateful for? It’s always good to be grateful for what you’ve achieved.
Kevin:  The thing I love about what you just said then is that we can be very negative on ourselves; it’s always good to look at the pluses, as well, Michael, to get a bit of a balance into what we’re doing.
Michael:  We live in such a lucky country. We have people around us who love us. We’re in a great position. You have to start with an attitude of gratitude every day.
Kevin:  I like that very much so. Yes.
Michael:  The next question I ask myself “What are the key lessons I’ve learned in the first three months?” What are the hardest of those for us to listen to, and what are we going to do with the insights that we’ve learned from those lessons – the things that worked and the things that haven’t worked?
Kevin:  Once you’ve been through and assessed that – we’ll get back to writing some of this down – is this a good time to evaluate your plan?
Michael:  It is. It’s a good time to write them down again – “Okay, here are my goals for the rest of the year” – and then you actually have to share them with somebody, with your spouse or your significant other, and with your mastermind team. You actually have to share it, because the real power and juice in life comes from the relationships we have with other people.
Kevin:  Just tell me a little bit about that peer group, too, Michael.
Michael:  I think it’s really important, Kevin. You’ve probably heard it said that you are the average of the five people around you. If you’re a fit person, very likely your best friends are going to also be cyclists or runners or fit people or people you meet in the gym. If you’re financially successful, your peer group is going to be important. Your net wealth will very likely be the average of the five closest friends you have.
It’s been said that your level of wealth is likely to be relate to them, so maybe it’s not a bad time to look at your peer group.
Kevin:  Michael, just to build on that, why does the peer group matter so much?
Michael:  I always look at a couple of reasons, Kevin. Firstly, your peer group’s attitude, beliefs, and behaviors, they’re contagious. This impacts on the way you think, your ability to spot and take advantage of opportunities, and your behaviors as you go after – or interestingly, as you don’t go after – your financial goals. If your mates pooh-pooh you and make fun of you and say you shouldn’t do it and you’re greedy, you actually don’t go after your financial goals. That makes a difference.
I think another reason is alone, you’re vulnerable; connected, we are strong. We all have blind spots, we all have limitations, but your peers can help you bridge these gaps, and they’ll often share resources with you to help you make better decisions, better financial choices, Kevin.
I think the other thing is it’s actually a lot more fun to build with other people. It’s hard to do it in isolation. We live in a world that can be isolating, but we are social beings. We build better when we have peers to bounce ideas off, to encourage us, to hold us accountable.
Kevin:  That’s a lovely segue, Michael. You’ve given me three great reasons there to mention your Wealth Retreat, which is coming up next month, as well, because it gives that platform, doesn’t it?
Michael:  It does, Kevin. I’ve found that when people become very successful in property, in business, as entrepreneurs, when they get to a certain level, they actually don’t have a lot of people to bounce ideas from – you’re right, Kevin – therefore they come to Wealth Retreat to get an instant mastermind group of movers and shakers
They come along and they sit with fifty of their peers, people who are really successful, and with the best faculty I can get together, people like my business coach, Mark Creedon, with Pete Wargent, who’s a regular on this show, who’s an economist – he retired when he was 33, financially independent – with Ken Raiss, with the top property, tax people, share people, and all of a sudden, they create their own mastermind group – people who are there to help them to network. And it’s not just the formal education; it’s the chats you have over lunch, over breakfast. The informal chat is a great way to do it, Kevin.
Kevin:  Okay. Tell me a little bit more about how can we get some more detail?
Michael:  If you’re interested to come along to Wealth Retreat, go to WealthRetreat.com.au. We’ll get all the information, you’ll find out more about it, and register your interest, and I personally speak with everybody who comes to Wealth Retreat one-on-one to make sure their investment of the five days’ time – and, to be honest, the money – would be worthwhile for them.
Kevin:  Wonderful. On that note, Michael, we’ll say thank you.
Michael:  Thanks. My pleasure, Kevin.